Thankfully, I've never had to take a lie-detector test, but I've watched enough police-themed TV shows and movies to figure out how they work. And I once stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

In the early stages, ask ridiculously simple questions that are impossible to fib. As you progress, amp up the difficulty until you get to the juicy stuff, and an electronic monitor will look for any inconsistencies in your heart rate.

Similar logic can work at the poker table, as applied by one of the true masters of the craft in a story from his 2003 memoir "Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People."

Amarillo Slim is known for his flamboyant nature and always-colorful conversation. As he may say, he could "talk a bee off its honey."

Slim got involved in a heads-up match with Betty Carey, one of the greatest female poker players in the 1970s, for meaty stakes at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Both players sat down with $100,000, and the game wasn't over until one player had all of it. It takes a while for a game of that magnitude to be set up, so Slim politely asked Carey if she'd like some coffee.

She declined the coffee, but desired hot tea instead.

Once Carey got her tea, Slim sipped on his coffee and asked her how it was.

"Oh, wonderful. This is real good tea," she said.

Carey had no reason to lie about the quality of her tea. As Slim noted, "It wasn't like she needed to convince me that the tea was as good as the queen mother's."

And just like that, Slim picked up his early, no-brainer answer for his own personal lie-detector test to be applied throughout the match.

Carey was one of the most feared poker players in Las Vegas with an extremely aggressive style of play. Slim focused his energy on setting a trap.

About an hour into the match, the two built an enormous pot with Carey committing all of her money into it.

Slim verbally pounced and asked, "How do you like your hand Betty?"

"Real good hand, Slim," she said.

Slim's ears picked up an entirely different tone in her voice versus that of the quality of her tea. He said "it lacked the sincerity."

So he called with his very weak pair of fives and won the pot. Carey was busted, running a total bluff.

Slim had acquired the needed weaponry to completely expose Carey, so he immediately pressed her for a rematch and the easy money.

She got on the phone with financial backer Jimmy Chagra (plenty of great stories about this guy with an online search), who provided her original $100,000 and asked for another opportunity.

Chagra obliged, but after hearing about how the previous match was lost, he insisted Carey wear earplugs and avoid all table talk with Slim.

"Talking to my opponents is my secret weapon," Slim said. "I couldn't get much of a read on her."